After a very strange 2020, things start going back to normal and, therefore, translators’ associations all over Europe organise a variety of festive events to celebrate International Translation Day 2021. Do come and join us!
BULGARIA (BTU)
As usual, the Bulgarian Translators’ Union (http://www NULL.bgtranslators NULL.org/) will celebrate International Translation Day by presenting its annual awards in various categories: Literary Translation, Scientific and Technical Translation, Legal Translation, Simultaneous and Consecutive Interpreting and in the field of Translation Theory, History and Criticism. The event will take place at the National Palace of Culture with limited attendance due to the pandemic restrictions.
CATALONIA (AELC)
At the light of the recent events compromising the freedom of speech, some of which sadly involved writers’ and translators’ associations, AELC decided to devote the Translation Day celebration (https://www NULL.escriptors NULL.cat/noticia/dia-traduccio-2021) to this fundamental right. A short poem by Enric Casasses was translated into thirty languages (https://photos NULL.google NULL.com/share/AF1QipO0TkNtBmEoTfYcGlFBcsI9KOL9nCWgX1MuwYLNjARAhbnOtpyNIcDjBVQ75ItkCg?key=RkgwLVZ0TUlWUDJ4Z05JX3pTdWh2Unh3WGN2OVRB) with the aim that the message circulated all across the world.
CROATIA
The Croatian association (http://www NULL.dhkp NULL.hr/) will organize a translation competition of excerpts from The Wizard of Oz and a talk about translating works of classic children’s literature.
For a detailed programme, please click here (https://www NULL.facebook NULL.com/events/388205869480262?active_tab=about).
CZECH REPUBLIC
© Maja Baadstorp
DENMARK (DOF (https://danskforfatterforening NULL.dk/dof/om-gruppen/))
Who, what and how does the translator represent?
The International Translation Day 2021 is celebrated simultaneously in the country’s two largest cities:
In Aarhus (https://fb NULL.me/e/1DartL0Va) – under the heading “Translation in dialogue” – four literary translators will touch upon the importance of gender, class, ethnicity and power in the translation process, and on the challenges and benefits, for text and translators, of doing a co-translation.
In Copenhagen (https://hieronymusdagen NULL.ku NULL.dk/), the celebration is a cross-disciplinary conference: literary translators, subtitlers, language professionals and researchers will talk about the future of the profession, about machine translation and automatization, and about the meaning of representation in translation.
Both events are free of charge and open to all, and this year, inspired by last year’s Coivd-19 experiences, the Copenhagen event will be streamed.
FINLAND (SKTL)
The Finnish Association of Translators and Interpreters (http://www NULL.sktl NULL.fi/) and Language Experts hold an annual International Translation Day seminar (https://kaantajienpaiva NULL.com/) in Finland. The seminar is not restricted to literary translation, but focuses on the whole field. This year the seminar will be held online for over 200 participants.
FRANCE (ATLF)
To celebrate International Translation Day, ATLF (Association des traducteurs littéraires de France (https://www NULL.atlf NULL.org/)) teamed up this year with SFT (the technical translators’ union), which is organizing multiple events on the whole territory. The association is taking part in their « TradTalks » (inspired by TedTalks) and two live translation battles (French to English and German to French). The theme this year is « Unis dans la traduction » (United In Translation), and the comprehensive programme can be found here (https://public NULL.huddle NULL.com/a/grVKJzj/index NULL.html).
GERMANY (VdÜ (http://www NULL.literaturuebersetzer NULL.de/))
HUNGARY (MEGY)
In celebration of International Translation Day, the Association of Hungarian Literary Translators co-organised an Irish drama reading event (https://www NULL.facebook NULL.com/events/561545431665597) on 28 September with the generous support of the Embassy of Ireland, Hungary. It featured excerpts from the 2021 selection of translations recommended by the Hungarian comittee of the European Network for Drama in Translation (EURODRAM (http://eurodram NULL.org/magyar-bizottsag-eurodram/)): Hitgyógyász (Faith Healer), by Brian Friel, translated from English by Márton Mesterházi; Észak csillaga (The Northern Star), by Stewart Parker, translated from English by Márton Mesterházi and Jóember (Misterman), by Enda Walsh, translated from English by Nikolett Németh. After the reading, a panel on Irish theatre took place.
ICELAND (THOT)
Every year, a symposium is held on the International Translation Day in Iceland, which is also the anniversary date of the Icelandic Asssociation of Translators and Interpreters (http://www NULL.thot NULL.is/thot NULL.is/index NULL.html).
Last year we streamed the symposium through our Facebook site, which actually attracted more spectators than the year before – so this year we will be having the possibility of attending on site, or alternatively watching through streaming equipement.
This year the main focus will be on machine translations and whether and how such translations can be a new tool for translators and interpreters to use in their jobs. A specialist from the Translation Centre of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs will talk about their participation in an experiment run in cooperaton with a company developing an Icelandic translation machine tool and he will tell us about their experience so far of working with such a tool. Another specialist will then give a talk on the results of a survey made last year, concerning the use of translation technologies by Icelandic translators. At last and not really related to the topic, or maybe … we actually don‘t know …, we will have a chat with two translators who have been translating the same author, but from different genres of the author‘s work; literary works on one hand and scientific work in the other hand. We end the symposium with some bubble wine and fingerfood.
The event is free of charge and open for all interested. Here (https://www NULL.facebook NULL.com/events/580570659803518)is the event‘s page on Facebook.
ITALY (AITI & STRADE)
How does it feel to be translated into another language? What’s a writer’s relationship with his or her translators? Strade (http://www NULL.traduttoristrade NULL.it/) will celebrate the International Translation Day with a special online event within a series called “StradeStream” (http://www NULL.traduttoristrade NULL.it/2021/san-girolamo-2021-con-rosa-ventrella/), which was launched during the first lockdown in 2020. Italian writer Rosa Ventrella (http://rosaventrella NULL.jimdofree NULL.com/), whose books have been translated into more than 20 languages, will talk about her experience with her translators. There will be a Q&A session chaired by Luciana Cisbani, Strade member and literary translator from French to Italian. The meeting will take place on Zoom on Thursday 30th September at 6:30pm. For more info and invitation to the Zoom meeting send an email to comunicazione@
On 1 October, AITI (https://aiti NULL.org/en) and StradeLab will be celebrating Saint Jerome’s day at the Laboratorio For
webwriter Alice Orrù (https://www NULL.aliceorru NULL.me/), will talk about a very hot topic: inclusive language and inclusive communication.
*TableT is a monthly appointment organized by AITI and StradeLab giving translators working mainly into Italian the opportunity to get together and chat about translation theory and practice.
LITHUANIA (LLVS)
On 30 September 2021 the Lithuanian Association of Literary Translators (https://www NULL.llvs NULL.lt/), keeping in line with tradition, will have its International Translation Day Festival and its St. Jerome Prizes award ceremony. This year the St. Jerome Prize for the translation of foreign literature into Lithuanian will be presented to Jonė Ramunytė, who translates from French. The St Jerome Prize for translators of Lithuanian literature into a foreign language will go to the Slovenian language translator, Klemen Pisk. The ceremony will take place at the Ministry of Culture of Lithuania.
POLAND (STL)
To celebrate the International Translation Day, Polish Literary Translators’ Association (http://www NULL.stl NULL.org NULL.pl/) (STL) joined forces with many partners to increase the visibility of translators and promote the awareness of literary translation as a factor in our partaking of the global culture.
On 30 September, we will begin in Sopot, with the panel “The Known, The Famous, The Translated” (https://www NULL.facebook NULL.com/events/399851421549415/?ref=newsfeed).
In Krakow the Translatorium, a new mentoring programme will launch. To mark the launch, mentors will share their expertise and early translating experience.
On 1 October in Gdansk (https://www NULL.facebook NULL.com/events/399851421549415/?ref=newsfeed), we will have the panel “Incorporated in the Language: On Inclusiveness in Translation”, and on 2 October – a discussion titled “The Shores of Literature. On the prose from the Baltic Sea countries”.
On 2 October in Warsaw (https://www NULL.facebook NULL.com/events/262717845702973?ref=newsfeed) translators and editors will share electrifying stories of difficult and inspiring collaboration, and on 3 October we will go back to the past for a talk about the wild 1990s, when nearly anyone could translate nearly everything, while some fought for professionalism and author’s rights. For dessert a conversation about cuisine in translation will be served.
PORTUGAL (APT)
The Portuguese Association of Translators (https://www NULL.apt NULL.pt/) is holding an online event on computer-assisted literary translation in association with The Goethe-Institut. Please find more information here (https://www NULL.facebook NULL.com/575596162484146/posts/4465629643480759/).
ROMANIA (ARTLIT)
SLOVENIA (DSKP (http://www NULL.dskp-drustvo NULL.si))
SPAIN (ACE Traductores (https://ace-traductores NULL.org/))
To celebrate ITD 2021, ACE Traductores will be hosting two events on September 30th, one in Barcelona and one in Málaga.
Readers and translators in Málaga (https://ace-traductores NULL.org/dit-malaga-de-que-color-es-la-traduccion-una-respuesta-polifonica-a-amanda-gorman/) will have the opportunity to listen to Belén Santana and Gabriel López Guix, moderated by David Marín Hernández, at the Centro Andaluz de las Letras, where they will talk about the controversy around Amanda Gorman and identity in translation.
In Barcelona, translator Irene Oliva, presented by Ana Alcaina, will guide the audience through a new session of the series “Veus Traductores” (https://ace-traductores NULL.org/dit-barcelona-comienza-la-temporada-del-ciclo-voces-traductoras/) [Translators’ Voices], which aims at reflecting about translation and has been held at Documenta bookshop for three years now.
UNITED KINGDOM (SoA TA)
English PEN (https://www NULL.englishpen NULL.org/)‘s annual programme of conversations, workshops, and opportunities to pitch to publishers returns on 30 September 2021. Following the success of last year’s format, ITD 2021 will take place online from 10AM to 8PM BST. You can find the whole programme here (https://www NULL.englishpen NULL.org/international-translation-day/itd-2021-english-pen/).